Throughout the few years between my having completed this album and finally emancipating it from its sad life in captivity while shelved, I had the chance to play it for a few friends whose taste I hold in high esteem. In case you’re not a musician yourself, you should know that this is a common and sacred ritual for recording artists of all genres.

The inner-circle screening is important because it serves as an incredibly valuable and intimate connection for two individuals who are most undoubtedly far more passionate about and fascinated with every aspect of their craft than is probably healthy. It’s an opportunity for two members of a rare and alienated culture to be at home for a short time, and communicate in the only language they were born fluent in.

…Not to mention, it’s an important opportunity for an artist to receive some honest feedback from someone whose opinion they respect.

I remember some of my favorite artists having awesome things to say, as well as some really helpful feedback for me about Goodbye Party. Although, a theme that came up a few times throughout my screenings of this album was the question of whether this track “Jones’ Lotus Harvest Block Party” really fits.

There’s a funny thing about that question in this context though. See, the song in question just happens to specifically address the uselessness of attempting to keep up with what the external world says is the best course of action.

There are a lot of variables out there, outside of your heart.

If you delegate all your energy to keeping up and constantly readjusting to whatever your head says is necessary to make it through the ‘survival of the fittest‘ quandary (AKA: our evolutionary wiring that no longer serves us much, unless you count the profit that pharmaceutical companies are making from sales of anxiety medication) you’re probably never going to find the time to appreciate what you have while you actually have it.

My brother always said “Opinions are like assholes, everybody’s got one, and at some point they’re all full of shit.”

This song features deM atlaS, one of my dearest friends, who you may know has been buzzing a lot for the past year or two, partially due to the fact that he’s now represented by indie rap tastemakers Rhymesayers Entertainment.

We made this song about doing your own thing, regardless of what the world around you seems to believe you should be doing. deM atlaS is a perfect example of this, as evidenced by the foray into an entirely new genre of music (which he’s coined as “droan“), which you can find on tracks 1, 6, and 7 of his DWNR EP.

I included this track on the final version of Goodbye Party because it represents the absolutely essentialgoodbye that I believe is necessary at some point in the life of any well-adjusted human being.

The act of saying goodbye to the status quo needs to happen before it’s possible to say hello to who you really are.

Leave the Jones family to their own devices.

I promise it’s much more fun to make up your own rules than win by playing someone elses.